Artomatic

Artomatic is a multi-week, multimedia arts event held in the Washington, D.C. area. It was founded by Washington, D.C artist and arts activist George Koch,[1] and has been held since 1999 up to the present at intervals from one to three years, depending upon the availability of a site. The non-juried, open event provides a forum for artists of all types (visual, performance, and literary) and abilities (from novice to professional). There are also arts education and professional development workshops and discussions.

Structure

A steering committee comprising local artists, arts administrators, and community activists develops outreach procedures and participation guidelines to ensure the broadest possible artistic representation from the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Each participant pays a fee and commits to volunteering for 15 hours. Most participants, however, give much more of their time; volunteers execute every task, from hauling trash and building exhibit structures to maintaining the website. As a result, the show draws artists and visitors of different races, cultural backgrounds, ages and experience levels.

Artomatic provides a mechanism for emerging and established artists to have the chance to work with and learn from one another. The diversity of artwork and performances attract a broad range of people, providing a forum to build institutional connections; linking public and private schools, universities, community development organizations, human service organizations, corporations, foundations, and cultural organizations.

Artomatic Inc is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that organizes Artomatic events.[2][3] Artomatic, Inc was incorporated on April 22, 2005.[4]

Artomatic Inc is overseen by a volunteer board of directors, led by Co-Presidents Jamila Canty and Olivia Garcia.[1] Artomatic hired Natalie Graves Tucker as its first executive director in October 2019.[1]

History

The first Art-O-Matic, as it was spelled then, ran from May 21 to June 19, 1999.[5] It started as a fairly spontaneous event in the Manhattan Laundry buildings on Florida Avenue in Northwest Washington. The location, in an old laundromat, accounts for the name. The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities acquired about $25,000 of artwork from this show for permanent display in the capital's public buildings through its Art in Public Places program.[6]

The second Art-O-Matic was held from September 29 to October 28, 2000.[7] This time, it was held in the Tenleytown neighborhood of Northwest Washington, in a then vacant building that had at various times been a Sears and a Hechinger.[8] Artist Tim Tate's "artwork at Artomatic 2000[9] was seen by the curator of the Smithsonian’s Renwick Museum,[10] and that show both got his work into the Museum’s permanent collection, and his sales at the show provided the seed money that started the Washington Glass School."[11]

October 31 to November 30, 2002 saw the third Art-O-Matic,[12][13] in a former EPA building in the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood of Washington, D.C., at 401 M Street SW, adjacent to Waterside Mall (the EPA building and the mall were both later demolished). At this Art-O-Matic, for the first time, the Figure Models Guild of the Washington, D.C., area sponsored open life drawing events. There would be live, often nude, models posing, and artists drawing.

The fourth Artomatic, as it was now spelled and has been spelled since, was held from November 12 through December 5, 2004, at the old Capital Children's Museum in the H Street Corridor of Washington, D.C.[14] The Washington Post art critic, Blake Gopnik, wrote a review of the show labeling the majority of the work mediocre or worse, and decrying the waste of money and effort that could have gone to worthwhile, professional arts activities in DC.[15]

The fifth Artomatic was held from April 13 to May 20, 2007.[16] This was the first time Artomatic was held outside the District of Columbia. It occupied two floors of a vacated office building in Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia. The space had previously been occupied by the Patent and Trademark Office.

Artomatic returned to the District of Columbia with the sixth iteration, held from May 9 through June 15, 2008. This time, they occupied 10 floors of Capitol Plaza I, a new – not yet completed – office building in the NoMa neighborhood.[17]

In February 2009, Artomatic collaborated with the Pink Line Project for "Luck of the Draw: An Art and Music Experience."[18] This event attracted over 1,500 people and was held at the Capitol Riverfront Neighborhood. Also in this seventh version of the event, several artists received interesting letters from someone who called himself "The Benefactor", causing both admiration and alarm in several of the artists.[19]

The seventh Artomatic was also the tenth anniversary event. It ran from May 29 to July 5, 2009[20] in the Navy Yard neighborhood of Washington, D.C.[21] It occupied a brand new building, 55 M Street SE, in a development near the new Washington Nationals ballpark located right over an entrance of the Navy Yard Metro Station. Over 76,000 visitors attended.

The eighth Artomatic was held from May 18 to June 23, 2012, in Crystal City, Virginia.[22] It was held in a 320,000-square-foot (30,000 m2) vacant office building, the event's largest space ever.[23]

The ninth Artomatic was held in New Carrollton, Maryland, from October 30 to December 12, 2015.[24]

The tenth Artomatic was held in Potomac, Maryland, in November 2016.[25] Diane Tuckman, a pioneering silk artist[26] and author on the same genre exhibited and taught classes at this Artomatic.

The eleventh Artomatic returned to Crystal City, Virginia running from March 24 to May 6, 2017.[27] It was staged using seven floors of an empty office building.[28]

The artfair organizers wanted to mark the 20th anniversary year in a meaningful way. However, 2019 came and went without finding a location to host the exhibition, so anniversary plans were moved to 2020, only to be upended by the outbreak of COVID-19. It was announced that for 2020, the production of Artomatic would be a totally online exhibition.[29]

Licensed events and partnerships

The Artomatic concept has been licensed out to other places, including Frederick, Maryland, in October and November 2011,[30] and Toledo, Ohio, in April 2015.[31]

In 2005 the Fraser Gallery of Bethesda, MD exhibited "Artomatic Top 10."[32] The show was curated to exhibit the work of the top ten artists selected by the gallery director from the 2004 Artomatic, and included work by Mark Jenkins, Michael Janis, Tim Tate and others. The show was selected as a "Hot Pick" of the week by The Washington Post.[33] Also in 2005, the Anne C. Fisher Gallery in Georgetown selected an exhibition selected from Artomatic artists titled "10 Most Wanted."[34] The exhibition was curated by Fisher and by F. Lennox Campello, and included work by Frank Warren, the creator of the PostSecret project.[34]

In 2007, three art galleries[35] in Bethesda, Maryland, put on a coordinated selected show of artists who had taken part in Artomatic. The galleries mounted the art for their monthly Bethesda Art Walk of January 12, 2007.[35][36]

In 2009 this was repeated by the Fraser Gallery in Bethesda, with a second curated exhibition of Artomatic artists.[37]

Smaller events and partnerships have also happened in following years, including a small display in the oldest wing of National Airport in 2011 and select Artomatic artists were featured with poetry by BRASH at Studio Gallery on R Street NW in Washington, D.C., in 2010.

In 2013, thirty-five artists who participated at Artomatic 2012 were curated by juror F. Lennox Campello to show work at the PEPCO Edison gallery in Downtown Washington, D.C.[38]

Artomatic has also partnered with art groups from other cities and countries, specifically glass studios from England for the 2009 iteration, in order to bring work from elsewhere into the DC art scene.[39] The 2009 Artomatic included of one of Washington, DC's Sister Cities: Sunderland, England. Thirty seven artists and businesses from Sunderland participated in Artomatic including glass artists and musical acts.[39]

Notable artists

References
  1. "Board of Directors". Artomatic. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  2. "Artomatic Inc". Tax Exempt Organization Search. Internal Revenue Service. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  3. "Form 990-EZ: Short Form Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax". Artomatic Inc. Guidestar. December 31, 2016.
  4. "ARTOMATIC - Initial File Number: 251266". District of Columbia Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. Government of the District of Columbia. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  5. Jessica Dawson (May 21, 1999). "Art-O-Matic for the People: What do you get when you try to gather 350 artists under one roof?". Washington City Paper. Archived from the original on September 1, 2012.
  6. "History – Artomatic". Archived from the original on 2019-01-30. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  7. "Art-o-Matic: A Visual Feast For Roving Eyes". The Washington Post. October 6, 2000.
  8. Miller, Nicole M. (September 30, 2000). "Putting It Together— That's What Counts: Art-O-Matic Creates A Collage of Local Visions". The Washington Post. p. C3.
  9. O'Sullivan, Michael (October 6, 2000). "Art-o-Matic: A Visual Feast For Roving Eyes". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
  10. Yaworski, Jill (2009-06-16). "Artomatic Celebrates Anniversary". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
  11. Montague, Chip. "The Collector; Reliable Source | Washington Glass Studio". Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  12. Dawson, Jessica (November 17, 2002). "Art-O-Matic: Crammed With Stuff & Shtick". The Washington Post. p. G5.
  13. Godfrey, Sarah (October 25, 2002). "Washington Art-O-Matic 2002". Washington City Paper.
  14. O'Sullivan, Michael (November 19, 2004). "Artomatic: Keep Your Eyes Open". The Washington Post. p. WW54.
  15. Gopnik, Blake (November 11, 2004). "Artomatic 2004: Hanging Is Too Good for It". The Washington Post.
  16. O'Sullivan, Michael (May 4, 2007). "'Artomatic': Treasures Hiding in Plain Sight". The Washington Post. p. WW53.
  17. "Artomatic: A Universe Unto Itself". The Washington Post. May 16, 2008. p. C11.
  18. "Luck of the Draw: Art and Music Experience Showcase of Residential Buildings". www.capitolriverfront.org. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
  19. "Reliable Source - Bucking Tradition at Artomatic". voices.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
  20. Rand, Kelly (May 29, 2009). "Artomatic Opens Today". DCist. Archived from the original on June 11, 2009.
  21. O'Sullivan, Michael (June 5, 2009). "Artomatic '09: Survival Tips From an Expert". The Washington Post. p. T46.
  22. Jenkins, Mark (May 25, 2012). "At Artomatic, there's a little bit of everything". The Washington Post. p. C8.
  23. Jenkins, Mark (January 21, 2012). "Bigger Artomatic to grace Crystal City". The Washington Post. p. C2.
  24. Harris, Hamil R. (November 12, 2015). "An extended exhibition in Pr. George's". The Washington Post. p. T16.
  25. Mitti Hicks (November 1, 2016). "Artomatic 2016 Coming to Park Potomac for the First Time".
  26. "Meyerhoff Gallery Presents Diane Tuckman". East City Art. January 18, 2018. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
  27. "Artomatic Returns to Crystal City in Spring 2017". November 30, 2016.
  28. Jenkins, Mark (April 27, 2017). "In the galleries". The Washington Post.
  29. Rudig, Stephanie (May 21, 2020). "Artomatic Continues to Evolve and Problem Solve as it Looks to Mount its First Digital-Only Event". Washington City Paper.
  30. O'Sullivan, Michael (October 21, 2011). "Artomatic sets up shop in Frederick". The Washington Post. p. WW20.
  31. Lane, Tahree (April 9, 2015). "Artomatic 419! kicks off on Saturday". The Blade. Toledo, Ohio. p. W22.
  32. "Fraser Gallery - Our 2005 Bethesda, Maryland shows". www.thefrasergallery.com. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
  33. "Our Picks". The Washington Post. January 14, 2005.
  34. "'Ten Most Wanted' Exhibit Opens". DCist. Archived from the original on 2018-12-29. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
  35. "Artomatic Thinks Small in Bethesda". The Washington Post. January 11, 2007.
  36. "Northern Virginia Art Beat". Falls Church News-Press Online. 2007-01-17. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
  37. Edwards, Jordan (July 29, 2009). "The chosen few: Fraser exhibits hidden gems from Artomatic". The Gazette. Archived from the original on March 22, 2017.
  38. "Artomatic Artists Selected to Show Work at PEPCO Edison Gallery". East City Art. February 12, 2013.
  39. "Artomatic Opens Today". DCist. Archived from the original on December 29, 2018. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  40. "Artomatic in 15 Minutes ⋆ BYT // Brightest Young Things". BYT // Brightest Young Things. May 30, 2008. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  41. "overexposed". Retrieved February 13, 2019.
  42. "The Poetry of Brash – Artomatic". Archived from the original on February 7, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  43. "ArtOMatic Interview #16: Ricardo (Ric) Garcia". TammyVitale.com. June 5, 2012. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
  44. Shaw-Eagle, Joanna (2002-11-02). "Some success at Art-O-Matic". The Washington Times. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
  45. "Resumé". Amber Robles-Gordon. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
  46. Argetsinger, Amy; Roberts, Roxanne (May 17, 2007). "Artsy High Jinks". The Washington Post.
  47. "Speaking in Tongues: Part One of a Conversation with PostSecret's Frank Warren".
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